The mystery vessel was spotted in satellite imagery of a shipyard outside the city of Guangzhou, southern China – and was found to have the same features seen in assault ships
Eerie satellite images of a shipyard in China have captured its military building a new vessel thought to be an assault ship – sparking fears of an upcoming invasion.
The mystery vessel was spotted by former US Navy submariner Tom Shugart in commercial satellite imagery taken in late October, which showed it being worked on in a shipyard outside the city of Guangzhou, southern China. It was found to have the same features seen in assault ships, especially those in trend with designers of aircraft-carrying vessels.
The ship comes complete with a flat flight deck and twin islands – one used for navigation and the other for directing flight operations. It is unlike a separate amphibious assault ship being built by the Chinese navy to reportedly carry hundreds of troops toward Taiwan. That ship, known as Type 076, is already used by many of the world’s leading navies, including the US, French and Australian navy.
But the mystery one measures just 650 feet from bow to stern – making it rather small for an assault ship. In comparison, A Type 075 is 760 feet long, and A Type 076 measures even longer at 850 feet.
The mystery surrounding China’s need for a third type of big-deck amphibious ship may point to a haunting admission that officials anticipate losing several of their ships in any attempt to land troops in Taiwan. The navy is thought to be planning ahead to replace any sunk or damaged vessels with smaller assault ships that take less time and money to build.
Shugart, who is a current fellow at the Center for a New American Security think tank in Washington DC, found that the vessel in question was being built much faster than others. In aerial images going back “a few months” prior to October, workers had already completed the ship’s hull and deck – which is speedy in shipbuilding terms.
Chinese shipbuilders meanwhile took a year to complete the first Type 075, with the construction of the Type 076 also anticipated to take a year. A seperate theory by Shuggart is that the ship may not be an assault ship at all, but rather a research vessel capable of supporting helicopters. Despite its purpose, it is still thought to be useful to China in the event of an invasion.
